# 232: Flour Science
Story behind the Passage
You might not believe it but there are some things I love doing without ever approaching or reflecting them theoretically. That has mostly been the case with baking. I started baking more “seriously” while living in the U.S. in 2007/2008. Since then, I kept refining certain American recipes and, of course, tried hundreds of new ones from different countries. I truly fell in love with baking this way and also started sending around cookies and cake for special holiday occasions. Even though people jokingly asked whether they could order my cookies, I never planned on turning it into a business.
Well, until a few weeks ago.
When a local initiative started running a food truck nearby about a month ago, I occasionally started selling my cake and other pastries. “Occasionally” has already turned into a habit every weekend. And today when I delivered the new tray I was told that some people have already become returning customers who come back from rather far away places to buy my cake — amazing! They especially love the rhubarb spelt with streusel kind. It is really tasty, I know that. But who would have believed that! I was glad I had actually made some for yesterday. Just imagine I had made something else (which I normally do because, as you know, stability is not my kind of thing)…
So, to make a long story short, this is actually turning into a business now. Of course, I first had to make myself familiar with the hygiene regulations and making sure you bake in an officially licensed kitchen. But concerning all the ingredients, I never really turned this into a science. I just bought the flour that was available, for example, never really paying attention to the exact recipes. But now that I know people want the SAME cake every time, this is putting some pressure on me, right? I need to get deeper into all this, especially since I also noticed that I have no clue about certain things. By “certain things” I really mean the basics, for example, the numbers on the flour types…
My Learnings
“Bakers use two primary types of white wheat flours: hard flour or strong flour and weak flour or soft flour.” Are you getting why I have started to look at baking TEXTBOOKS to get a clue? I mean, I had no idea about all the different types of white flour. And you have to see that, before this passage, the author talks about all the different ingredients of flour in and of themselves. You know, I had to think of my chemistry lessons in school. I never liked chemistry, actually. The teacher was really nice but I never liked the subject. It was actually the one and only subject I never ever got a grasp of. All the formulas and tables were so abstract to me, I had no idea what all this was supposed to be good for. The only thing that met my preference for visual thinking were the models of the different chemical reactions and the setups of the molecules. But I never got what exactly one could do with this.
Now I have been out of school for almost 20 years and I am going back to chemistry because I am baking! Here is the chart from the previous page:
So, even though my English is o.k., there are terms in this I have never ever used before in my life. At least I know what protein is and I now read that German websites explain the different numbers of the flour (like type 405, 550…) according to their protein ratio. Gosh, who would have guessed that? I mean, I knew the difference between white and whole grain before. But that was about it. I guess I should finally start leaving behind my hidden chemistry trauma and just move on the way I did before: focus on the baking, forget about the rest.
Still, I have to admit, I just really enjoy learning more about all this. After all, all cooking is chemistry in the end. I mean, yes, it is also physics and biology, representatives of these other natural science fields might say now. But chemistry came to my mind first. The point is, had anybody taught me chemistry with cooking before, maybe I would have been more interested. It would have answered this crucial question which makes you learn stuff in the first place: Why? It is just interesting that, since I am talking a lot with people about education these days, many people argue that this is the most crucial flaw about schools, i.e., that they do not explain the “why” behind learning theoretical stuff. I am torn because in my case, in all other fields, I did not need any “why.” I was able to learn and understand the stuff the way it was taught — not so with the natural sciences, particularly chemistry.
If my philosophy of “every human being has a place in the universe” is right, we all have these fields where we do not need extra tutoring and super hands-on explanations. We are intuitively able to learn more than most others and more quickly and deeply about these particular topics and issues. What I am just noticing is that there is a huge difference between the things that I love doing in practice and the things I love working on theoretically. Usually, as soon as I know a lot more theory about something, doing the stuff becomes more difficult because I insist on integrating all the knowledge. This makes it particularly difficult to work with others — which is why I end up working alone. If I do not know anything about something but just do it, it becomes much easier. This is the “beginner’s mind” in Zen, I guess, that brings the flow.
So, I guess, this post is going to end with a conclusion that I often arrive at — cognitively — but cannot implement practically: balance. I am just not the type for the “middle path.” I can do one thing 100%. So, if I love baking without any knowledge, I love doing that excessively. If I love learning and writing about theory, I love doing that excessively. But there is hardly any in-between. Still, in this case and at this point now, I am very much thinking about learning more about baking, also more theory. I do not think it would take away the fun for me. I enjoy it so much and the prospect of actually getting better at it if I learn more is really attractive for a competitive person like me. And, after all, the feedback of the people is really encouraging. Above all, this is why I bake — for people who enjoy their life with my cake.
Just as I was writing this, I thought of Anthony Bourdain. I felt like integrating a quote about baking by him. And then I just saw that he passed away three years ago. I had no idea. He was one of the most inspiring chefs for me ever. As I am reading just now, he committed suicide. I will write about him soon...
“When someone cooks for you, they are saying something. They are telling you about themselves: Where they come from, who they are, what makes them happy. — Anthony Bourdain
Reflection Questions
1) Did you ever buy cookbooks? Which ones exactly?
2) How do you think about organic food? Is it a luxury, a necessity, or simply a trend?
3) Which person would you like to have cake with?